Macro Monday - Shimmering Jewels of the Cloud Forest

I have recently spent three weeks in the rainforest and cloud forest of Ecuador. Now, before you all start chirping on about how lucky I am, I would like to point out that most of the time I was running around looking after 17 students and worrying about what they might do next to maim, injure or kill themselves. It was an exhausting experience, let me tell you. Still, we managed to get all 17 students home, all in one piece, and no law suits are pending, so the trip can now be declared a success.

I did manage to get a couple of peaceful, if very rainy days, all to myself in the cloud forest. It was beautiful bliss. The rain was a blessing - I finally had an excuse to do nothing for hours on end. And, the best part, hummingbirds apparently don't care about the rain. These shimmering jewels of the cloud forest went about their frenetic activity despite the torrents of rain falling from the leaden skies. What a joy they were, streaks of bright, radiant colour darting and flitting through the air, lighting up the dark forest like random Christmas lights strung up on the trees all around. Miniature rainbows, vibrating the air with their impossibly fast wings, making the air sing their song with no words.

I just loved every single one of the feisty, fierce, seemingly fragile fragments of light and beauty.

I did not love how difficult it was to capture the beauty of the fast little buggers with my camera. That was as frustrating as trying to pass a camel through the eye of a needle!

For more Macro Monday, go here.

P.S. I think these little spitfires are Tyrian metaltails, but I could be wrong. My bird ID is about as bad as my DIY - no, I take that back. Nothing is as bad as my DIY!